By
Jolie Lee

Dr. C.D. Mote, report co-author and member of National Research Council Governing Board

Norm Augustine, report co-author and former Lockheed Martin CEO

(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Dr. C.D.
Mote's title)

This story was updated at 10 a.m. Nov. 1 to include comments from report co-
author Norm Augustine.

It's probably not a surprise the Defense Department is struggling to fill science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) positions. But the new report by the National
Research Council and the National Academy of Engineering found the problem lies in
finding the right
workers for certain areas, such as cybersecurity, systems engineering and
intelligence.

Dr. C.D. Mote

"The question is not really a numbers question. The question is really a
quality
question," said Dr. C.D. Mote, a member of the National Research Council Governing
Board and co-author of the report, in an interview with In
Depth with Francis Rose.

One recommendation is to recruit from the overseas STEM workforce. A
challenge has been the inability to attract U.S. students
to STEM careers, compared with other countries. More than half of the doctoral
degrees awarded by U.S. engineering schools go to
non-citizens. And in 2004, 38 percent of those foreign graduates left the United
States five years later, the report found.

The report recommends DoD examine citizenship requirements and classification
conditions for
its STEM needs. One example is the Energy Department, which has been able
to recruit non-citizens in non-secure positions on the condition they become
citizens and then get a security clearance, Mote said.

Currently, DoD has the authority to make quicker hiring decisions but such
authority is "seldom exercised," said
Norm Augustine, co-author of the report, as well as former CEO of Lockheed Martin
and a former Army under secretary.

Norm Augustine

"The most talented people, the ones that are in most demand, simply won't sit
around six months waiting for a decision," he said.

The 18-month study found DoD is no longer the employer of choice for
STEM
workers, at a time it should be hiring a "high fraction of the highest-quality
STEM
workforce," Mote said.

"That's a big concern to a person just getting out of college, when they can go to
work in Silicon Valley or go to work in the information industry," he said.

DoD also can do more to develop its current STEM workforce, he said.

"DoD has a very effective mechanism for training and retraining its military
workforce, but it doesn't provide the same training and retraining opportunities
for its civilian workforce, especially the civilian STEM workforce," Mote said.

Domestic STEM workers also should have the chance to work overseas. "DoD's
workforce needs to understand what's going on out there."

One way to attract both American and foreign STEM workers is to offer
participation in "unconventional programs" and the opportunity to work on projects
at the cutting-edge of technology, Mote said.

Augustine said DoD's ability to recruit top STEM employees is tied to national
security.

"Increasingly, technology is going to be the important factor in deciding how well
DoD can carry out its missions," he said.